Inter-County Golf

[thejuice]

The All-Ireland charity golf inter-county championships will be held in the Spanish resort from April 10 to 13 and will feature a host of legendary GAA names from the past four decades.

The project, the brainchild of Bernard Flynn, has Carr as secretary and also involves Sunday Game analyst and former Offaly hurler Michael Duignan, Mick McGinley (father of golfer Paul and a former Donegal footballer), Colman Corrigan of Cork and Kevin McCabe of Tyrone.

Each county will be represented at the tournament by four former hurlers or footballers who will name a charity and pay €5,000 to enter. The winning team will pick up a cheque for €100,000 which they will then pass on to their nominated charity. Most teams have identified a charity in their own county.

The golf championship is a great way to renew old rivalries and meet players who only ever saw each other on GAA pitches -- but it's expected that some friendships will be put on hold as the competitive instincts of all involved come out on the fairways and greens.

The only restriction for team selection was that each member had to have played intercounty senior. "That's why Niall Quinn came up before the committee," Carr joked. "He played minor for Dublin but got the vote to come anyway."

Tipperary, backboned by Michael 'Skippy' Cleary (who plays off a one handicap), will be favourites, but Kilkenny will challenge hard with DJ Carey, Eddie Keher, Liam Fennelly and Joe Hennessy on their side. Kerry are represented by Sean Walsh, Eoin Liston, Ogie Moran and Paudie Lynch. Apart from Quinn, the Dublin side will feature Carr, Jack Sheedy and John Kearns.

Sharks include Wexford's Rory McCarthy who plays off four, while Carey plays off five.

Former Cork football manager Billy Morgan is on the Cork team with Dinny Allen and Diarmuid McCarthy. The Meath side of Gerry McEntee, Colm O'Rourke, Bernard Flynn and Conor Martin also merits close attention.

The average handicap of the listed competitors is just over 11.